RÉSUMÉ
Objective To observe the clinical efficacy of beraprost sodium on early stage of diabetic nephropathy(DN).Methods We measured serum levels of serum soluble intercelluhar adhesion molecule (sICAM)-1 in 27 cases with diabetes without nephropathy and 48 cases with early DN.Patients with early DN were randomly assigned into two treatment groups:the conventional treatment group and the beraprost sodium treatment group.Changes of sICAM-1 and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels and urinary albumin excretion rate (UAER) were measured in the two groups before and after treatment.Results The serum sICAM-1 levels in early DN patients was significantly higher than that of the diabetes without nephropathy group((1385 ± 171) g/ Lvs.(943 ± 167) g/L;t =1.034,P =0.002).There were no significant difference observed on levels of sICAM-1,CRP and UAER between the two treatment groups (P > 0.05).The level of sICAM-1 and CRP in the beraprost sodium treatment group was significantly lower than those before treatment (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).The symptoms were significantly alleviated in both groups (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01),especially for the beraprost sodium treatment group(P < 0.05 or P < 0.01).Conclusion Patients with early DN have elevated serum sICAM-1 levels.Treatment of beraprost sodium has protective effect on early DN as it significantly decreases the serum levels of sICAM-1 and CRP in patients with early DN.